Herbert Smith - the General Strike miners’ leader honoured in ceremony at Castleford cemetery May 2026.
Here is a video (slide) presentation of the event
created by Peter G. Harvey ARPS.
A service to re-dedicate the grave of Herbert Smith, who is buried in Castleford's Healdfield Road Cemetery, was held on the 12th May 2026. The event, organised by Castleford Civic Society, marked the centenary of the 1926 General Strike and the significant role played by Herbert Smith, who led the Miners Federation of Great Britain at that time. Civic Society members raised funds to clean the gravestone ahead of the service and Herbert's family were traced with the help of Barnsley Councillor Janine Moynes and the local paper, the Barnsley Chronicle. Herbert
Smith was born in the workhouse at Great Preston and in 1862, at the age of ten, began working at Glasshoughton pit.
The service was conducted by Rev'd Kerry Tankard, District Chair of Yorkshire West Methodist Circuit, and was attended by Herbert's granddaughter and great-granddaughter, members of Castleford Civic Society, former miners as well as representatives from the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), Unite the Union and Leeds Trades Council. Processing to the grave, Rev'd Kerry sang 'Amazing Grace', at the graveside Castleford Male Voice Choir sang 'Abide with Me' and folk singer, Tegwen Roberts, sang 'The Miners' Anthem'. Wreaths were laid by the Civic Society and Unite the Union. Herbert Smith was known as the “grand old man” of British mineworkers and known to thousands of Yorkshire miners as “Our Herb.” At the time of the General Strike, when mine owners were threatening to lock out miners unless they accepted a wages cut of 25% and an increase in working hours, Herbert Smith told the then Prime Minister, Stanley Baldwin 'Nowt Doing'. The nine day General Strike was triggered and the miners continued to be locked out by mine owners until November 1926.
In June 1938 Herbert died suddenly at his desk in the miners' offices in Barnsley. The funeral service was held at Barnsley's Pitt Street Methodist Church and Herbert's coffin processed through crowded streets to Castleford where Herbert was buried with his son, who had died as a result of injuries from the 1st World War. Crowds four and five deep thronged Healdfield Road and a brass band played as his cortège approached the cemetery. Kathryn Stainburn Civic Society Heritage Lead says: “Castleford Civic Society are proud of our industrial heritage and the men and women who contributed to the wealth of this country. Throughout his life Herbert never stopped fighting for the rights of miners and he always spoke up on behalf of the most vulnerable in society. Herbert was an active member of the civic life of Castleford as a Poor Law Guardian, member of the local school board and a Councillor before he moved to Barnsley in 1916. It is fitting that we remember him at this time."
Herbert Smith’s grave also forms part of a heritage trail which explores the unique history of Healdfield Road Cemetery. The trail features the graves of 17 people at the burial ground, which dates back to 1857."
